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Basketball from a fans perspective

Where are they

I’ve mentioned this previously, sports in this age unlike the past lacks characters. You know those individuals who are just as entertaining with their persona as their sports talent. Baseball of the past was full of these characters, sadly they no longer exist in today’s game. The college and NBA game never rivaled baseball in this area, but it too had its share of characters. Just like baseball we must look at the past to uncover just a few of these individuals. We have the late Billy Tubbs Oklahoma coach along with Mizzou’s Norm Stewart. He’s not generally thought of in this role, but Celtic Larry Bird could be included in the discussion. The late Marvin Barnes played in the ABA and later moved into the NBA is also included along with center Darryl Dawkins.

Tubbs was a good basketball coach, listening to his speech pattern actor Jack Nicholson would come to mind although I’m sure Tubbs was speaking in his natural tone. Once during a heated game Oklahoma fans were tossing debris on the court. Tubbs was asked to address the crowd over the P.A. system and his remark was classic. “No matter how bad the officiating is etc. etc.”, who manages to address a gathering in that manner? Naturally Tubbs was assessed a technical foul and left the floor. Mizzou’s Norm Stewart once asked if his team contained any McDonald’s All Americans. “We don’t have any, but we eat there” was the coaches response. This one also classic, the coach hated spending a dime in Kansas. Anytime Mizzou played Kansas in Lawrence this is how it occurred.

The team would be bused to Kansas City and spend the night in a hotel on the Missouri side, the morning of the game there would be another bus right from Kansas City (MO) to Lawrence. Marvin Barnes did not realize time zones existed, at the time he played for the St. Louis ABA team. His team playing in Memphis on Eastern Time the landing time back in St. Louis (Central Time) was explained to Barnes and confused his answer to the coach. “I ain’t getting on no time machine.” All we saw was Larry Bird streaking down the court on a fast break or shooting plus defending. What most don’t realize he was a notorious trash talker on the court. In the NBA Three Point contest Bird said, “Who’s coming in second?” Finally we close with the late Darryl Dawkins, the Sixer center had the habit of naming his dunks. Dawkins broke more than one backboard while in the NBA.

I would be happy

A friend smiled and asked me, “Are the Lakers going to be good”? I smiled at him and responded by saying “Next season.” Both of us laughed however I was certainly serious with my statement. In all honesty I would be happy if I believed the Lakers were competitive this season. I’m not stating they need to play for the NBA championship, I’m not even stating a deep playoff run. I am speaking for myself and not Laker Nation, but this would make me happy. The Lakers are 7-10 games over .500, that would place them in playoff contention.

In addition that would indicate they are competitive with the Celtics, Bucks, and maybe the Clippers. There remains a missing piece for me, as this is written it could be Rui Hachimura appearing in Purple and Gold. Is Hachimura that portion or is it trading Westbrook and acquiring Bojan Bogdanovic from the Pistons?  Perhaps it’s none of the above, how about Anthony Davis playing the balance of the season healthy? At some point LeBron James indicated his desire for AD to take leadership of this team. At the same time it’s difficult to exhibit leadership when you are always on the injury list. I have been a chief complainer about load management but there are exceptions. If it allows AD to remain in the Laker lineup, I’m all for it.

The Pit

The University of New Mexico has a basketball arena unlike any in the nation maybe the world. According to the history coach Bob King turned the school into a winning program after he was hired in 1962. Attendance exploded and the administration believed a larger arena was a requirement. They wanted an arena with an unobstructed view of the court from any seat. When the arena opened in 1966 it was then and currently the only arena in my scope similar. “The design allowed the foundation to rest directly on earth, eliminating the need for a steel structure to support the concrete, resulting in tremendous cost savings.^”

I will describe it in this manner, you walk in at ground level but to reach your seat a descent down steps is necessary. In all likelihood unless you’ve got a guy 6 foot 4 or more sitting in front of you there is an unhindered view of the court from any seat in the Pit. Naturally like any building or arena over time renovations are required and they occurred with this arena. The arena was expanded in 1975 and revamped in 2009. The latest work now expands seating capacity to 15,411 ticket holders. Naturally a winning team is a requirement and that’s been the history of the Lobo program. Over the years the school’s been a stopover for coaches building their resume, the current coach is Rich Pitino. This is a brief look at one of the most innovative college basketball arenas all time.   

Complaints from California to Maine

How long have I watched sports on television? Long enough to take note of the changes over the decades. Black & White television sets became color which enhanced the picture quality, with the advent of cable television picture eminence was enhanced significantly. No more rabbit ears on top of most televisions. Then along comes HD and enriched picture quality became the norm.   I’m not going to place a day, date and time but multiple television cameras became common place when telecasting sports events. Soon it became practical we could see a replay from a number of angles, this allowed the viewer to become a “game official.”

You heard them, they screamed at blown calls and we heard from them twitter, email etc. The progress one might have hoped for became a contributing factor in the number of complaints registered by fans. The eye of the camera is going to see the good and bad of a play. We've got to take into consideration generally officials have but a split second to make a call. Challenges in some instances are now allowed in the NFL, MLB and the NBA, I'm unsure about other team sports. You might remember my complaint last week about the close out of the Lakers-Celtics match. If not for replay from various angles I wouldn’t have been able to see LeBron James was clearly fouled on his drive to the basket. The following day NBA officials admitted “the play was missed.”

The Joker’s battle

On Sunday evening we had an NFL Championship dual between Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. All season long many had contended Burrow had surpassed Mahomes in the quarterback rating. Nothing like facing the guy many contend is the superior player, we had that occur over the weekend in the NBA too. The last few seasons has seen Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid battle one another to determine the league’s MVP.

Based on past results clearly Jokic’s been the winner with back-to-back MVP awards. This game certainly brought out the best for the Sixers Joel Embiid, the Big Man filled the state sheet with 47 points along with 18 rebounds 5 assists and 3 steals and 2 blocked shots. His scoring binge led the way to a 126-119 Sixer victory. Jokic’s game was decent but nowhere close to that of Embiid, 24 points 8 rebounds and 9 assists. Who takes the lead in the MVP race now between these two and Giannis Antetokounmpo and possibly another?